A 4-Year-Old's New Year's Resolutions

As I snuggled with Kyra at bedtime this evening, she turned to me and said, "Mommy, I'm going to tell you my New Year's Resolutions." I was slightly taken aback that she could even pronounce resolutions, much less have some. So this is her list:

1. To give more hugs and kisses.
2. To be friends forever and ever with Adley, Corbin, Spencer, & Michaela.
3. To be kind.
4. To sing pretty songs.

Sounds like a great list. Hopefully I'll get to be the lucky recipient of some of those extra hugs and kisses.

Production Crew

Steven and Kyra are already plotting their next DVD creation. As they finished up the details, which included a list of featured content, as well as special features, they started to choose a template for the DVD menu. After they chose a design, Steven commented that since Kyra had chosen the content and the design for the DVD, that made her the Producer. And since he had helped too, Daddy was the Executive Producer. Kyra then asked what Mommy was, so he said that since I had taken much of the footage included on the DVD, I would be a Co-Executive Producer. So Kyra then said, "And Siana can be The Baby Who Plays Around!" Sounds about right.

Check!

My mom was the designated bedtime storyteller for Kyra for the better part of last week. One night, as they were deciding what story to tell that night, Kyra busts out with, "Ok. Let's weview. We've done Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, ...." and after saying the name of each story, she put her little arms up in a big X to signify that they were checking it off. I think there's a listmaker in our future....

Making Movies

Steven helped Kyra make her very first DVD the other day after she performed some Christmas carols with her class at church. They hovered over the computer making titles, intros, and credits to the DVD. When it was finished, we watched it at least 7 or 8 or 500 times. Fortunately, it was only like 5 minutes long. After the last viewing, Kyra had a great idea and exclaimed, "Ooh! We should make Bonus Features for this DVD!!!"

Happy Holidays!

Kyra told us Happy Holidays today, then proceeded to tell us Happy-Every-Holiday-She-Could-Think-Of. She went through Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentine's Day, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Easter, and eventually she ended with "Happy Ha-chunk-a." We figured out that she was attempting to wish us a Happy Hanukkah. So to all my friends who are Jewish, and my one friend who is half-Jewish and whose children are each "quarter Jews" (you know who you are), my daughter and I wish you a very Happy Hachunka!

Hello, Bermuda?

This morning, Siana was playing with her favorite toy...a cell phone. She was sitting up on my sink playing with my phone while I put on the finishing touches to get ready to go. All of a sudden, I heard a ringing that was originating from my phone. Somewhat alarmed, but assuming she had just pushed one of my speed dials, I took the phone and hit end. That is when I looked at the display and noticed that she had just happened to hit 10 digits and the call was being placed to, of all places, Bermuda. Yikes! Fortunately, I hung it up before someone all the way in Bermuda picked up their phone, wondering who was calling from a 317 area code and probably wondering where in the world 317 is. So hopefully, the next time I see a 1-441 number I will be planning for a wonderful vacation and not just a hideously expensive phone bill.

The Big One!

My little Siana turned 1 today...it's amazing how fast the time went and at the same time, how long this past year was for many reasons. Kyra and I were talking about it being Siana's birthday today and Kyra asked if she was 1 now. I said that yes, she was. She thought about that a minute and asked, "Are you sure she's not still zero? She still looks zero-ish to me."

Kyra Quote of the Day

Me: "Kyra is your room clean?"
Kyra: "No. It's just naturally messy."

Lavatory Lyrics

Kyra, as I've blogged about before, has a soundtrack backing her little adventures at all times. It has gotten pretty much constant. Not much time goes by without her singing a little ditty about whatever she's doing or something she saw and/or heard. This little trait of hers continues wherever she goes, and as proved by Sunday lunch, it even continues in the potty. *sigh* We were at a restaurant having lunch with some friends after church when Kyra announced that she needed to go to the bathroom. I took her in there, and as I papered the seat for her, we could hear the individual in the next stall start to make use of the facilities. So, my little songbird, as you might have already guessed starts to sing a little song about the fact that she can hear the lady next to us 'going.' It went a little something like this: "I hear peeing...I really hear peeing...." I had to stifle the deep hilarity about to erupt from my gut until we got back to the table, where it took about 10 minutes before anyone could understand what on earth I was saying through my laughter. I can only hope the poor lady next to us found the same amusement.

Not So Super Store

This evening we were playing and Kyra announced, "My name is Miss Kristin and I'm a helper at Wal-Mart. What does your baby need?" I named off several things, and she asked for more things the baby needed. I named off 3 or 4 more things. She then responded, "Ummm, well, we don't have any of those things. Sorry."

Sleeping Beauty

This morning, I attempted to wake Kyra up bright and early at 7:30 for school which, as usual, was too early for her liking. After about 15 minutes of coddling her awake and playing with her, I told her that it was time to start being serious about getting up and getting ready to go. She turns her face toward me and with her eyes closed whispers, "Shhh...I'm trying to rest."

Boogie Mama

It appears that Siana's Bruce genes are starting to kick in as she is just ecstatic every time she hears any kind of music. She grins from ear to ear and giggles, then her little body sways back and forth from side to side, eventually ending up in a bounce up and down. It's hysterical and absolutely adorable to watch. The girl can find a groove in anything. This past Sunday in church, she started boogying during a hymn, so if she can find a dance beat in a CofC church service during a classic hymn, she can get down to anything!

Indecent Proposal

I took the girls to the mall the other day to do some Christmas shopping. As we crossed the parking lot, Kyra was rattling off all the ideas she had of things that we could get for different family members. We entered through one of the large anchor stores and the door we chose just happened to be next to the lingerie section. As we passed a see-through red lace teddy that was prominently on display, Kyra says quite loudly, "Mommy! We could get those red 'overalls' for Aunt Melissa...that would be really cute!!!" But not so cute would be receiving a red lace teddy from your brother and his family. Ew.

Higher Learning

Kyra was getting ready for a bath this evening when she says, "Children who go to school are called students." I responded that yes, indeed they are, while wondering where this was coming from. She then says, "and people who go to stores are called customers." I said that she was right and then asked her where she learned all that. She responded, "maybe at school, or maybe from God, or maybe from myself."

Get Your Story Straight

This afternoon, Kyra randomly commented, "I need to call Mammaw and tell her that the Sleeping Beauty story she always tells me is not the right Sleeping Beauty story." I asked her what she meant and she said, "the Sleeping Beauty story she tells me is not the right one...maybe she hasn't seen the movie."

Variations on Peek-a-Boo

Siana's new favorite game is peek-a-boo. However, she doesn't quite get where you're supposed to put your hands yet. So our version of peek-a-boo may be played in a variety of ways. Typically we start out with our hands over our ears and then put them out in a big tada pose complete with cheesy grin, which will be repeated until someone recognizes the effort and says Peek-a-Boo! Then it usually progresses to one hand over one eye and the other covering the nose or mouth, effectively squishing her little face, then assuming the aforementioned tada pose. It's quite the funny thing to watch and I think I'll be a little bit sad when she actually starts doing it "right."

Young at Heart Only

Last Wednesday, we were driving through Chop Chop and the dude at the window was "young lady-ing" me at every turn. Thank you young lady, here you go young lady, have a nice day young lady, and so on. As we pulled away, Kyra asked, Mommy, why did he keep calling you young lady...you're not young!" And I'm getting more decrepit as we speak apparently.

O-Hi-Yo

Kyra was looking at a map of the U.S. today in one of her books. She was going through and telling me which states she knew, and after all 3 of them, she started asking me which ones were which. After a few, she pointed to Ohio. I told her that was Ohio and she lit up and said, "Oh yeah! Like we say Hi and we can say Yo!" Sure, rap momma. Just like that.

Mommy Has Problems

Sunday morning as I was in the shower, I heard the door open and small feet running to the potty. I greeted Kyra and she giggled and said, Oh hi, Mommy. She then proceeded to carry on a conversation with me the entire time I was in the shower. We landed on a conversation about one of her favorite shows, the Wonder Pets, and she started quoting her favorite funny lines that Ming Ming the duckling has said. She went through quite a few of her faves and then asked me, "Mommy, do you remember any other funny things Ming Ming says?" I responded, "Nope...I can't remember any more." She replied back, "Hmmmm....maybe you have a problem." Thanks.

Vacation Elation

We just got back from a 2 week vacation in which we first went to Nashville and attended the Zoe Worship Conference, then drove from there to Indy for 6 days. We had an awesome time and did about 1/2 of all the things we wanted to do. There never seems to be enough time. But we did tons of fun stuff. We went to the Indianapolis Zoo and then went apple picking in Mooresville, which were my top 2 things I wanted to do since there's not anything even close to an apple orchard in/around Amarillo (that would require trees) and the zoo here is basically all farm animals from what I've been told. So I was excited to take the girls both those places. Steven has chroncled a lot of our trip in his blog and has lots of pics posted, so for the rest of the experience, click here: http://web.mac.com/brucefamily/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html

Statues and Limitations

A few days ago, Kyra grabbed a clean paintbrush and started "drawing" on her arm. She then declared, "I'm painting a statue on my arm."
"A statue?" I said.
"Yes, a statue...you know a picture that you can put on arms."
"Oh...a tattoo you mean?"
"Oh. Yeah. A tattoo. I'm drawing a tattoo on my arm."

Kyra on Transsubstantiation

While sitting in church on Sunday, Kyra was paying particular attention to the fellow on stage presenting the communion thoughts. She has heard this type of thing many times before, but apparently not in quite this way. The guy said something to this effect: now let us drink the blood of Jesus shed for us. From next to me, I hear a small but utterly disgusted voice say, "Ew."

Impressive Clergymen

As we watched the end of the Sound of Music this morning, we got to the part where Maria and Captain VonTrapp get married. In this segment, the priest who marries them looks remarkably like the Impressive Clergyman who marries Westley and Buttercup in the Princess Bride. He's wearing the white robe and the large pointy white and gold hat, and as he came into the picture, Kyra commented, "Huh...that's an interesting preacher." Yeah...I'd pay good money to see our preacher don that kind of a getup. =)

Circus Skills

Kyra to Mommy: "I'm not very good at flying trapeze in the circus because I don't know how."

What pants???

On a related note, the commercials in between shows on HGTV are also having an effect on Kyra. The most incessant commercials are for other HGTV shows, Countrywide home loans, NutriSystem, and Jenny Craig. A few Sundays back, Kyra asked if the day was Sunday. I responded that it was, and she very animatedly told me, "Design Therapy premieres tonight...Two shows, One hour, No charge!" I just stared at her. I couldn't believe she'd ingested that commercial enough to even know the byline of a show that she'd never seen. Also, you've probably seen the Jenny Craig commercials that currently feature Kirsty Alley. Well, yesterday morning as I was getting Kyra ready to go, I gave her some choices of attire and she countered with, "Or I could wear my 'fat pants.'" I asked her, "Did you just say fat pants???" She looked at me innocently and said yes. I then of course, asked her what fat pants were, and she said, "Oh that's just something I made up" and giggled because she obviously had no idea what that meant. Funny? Yes. Am I cracking up even now as I write this? Yes. But still, I think we just need to turn off the TV for a while, HG or not.

Design O.D.

I've blogged before about Kyra's love of HGTV...well I'm not sure, but it may be bordering on obsession at this point. She chose HGTV over cartoons the other day. Is that normal for a barely 4 year old? Of course, she's not necessarily the most normal of children anyway (see my previous posts about computer usage) but still.... She can name the hosts of almost every show and tell you which host corresponds to which show. She also never misses an episode of Design Star and frequently acts out the different competitors from that show. If her mid-day rest time interrupts a show that she's engrossed in, she insists that I record it on the DVR and then wants to know exactly when she'll be able to watch the rest of it. It's pretty funny, but definitely unusual. Is there such thing as too much HGTV?

Kyra Quote of the Day

"I'm a lady now...I'm 15 years old!"

Common Biters

As I was putting Kyra's pajamas on her, I noticed what looked like a bug bite on her. I examined it and said, "It looks like something bit you right there." Kyra replied, "Maybe it was crocodiles. Or Siana." Yeah, maybe.

Q & A with Kyra

Are you going to get married when you grow up?
Yes.

Where are you going to live?
South America.

Why South America?
Uhhhh, because I've never been there!

Are you going to have kids?
Yes. I think I'll have a boy and a girl.

What do you think your kids should call me...what should my name be?
(Laughing) Um...Steven still....

Growing Up

We asked Kyra what she would like to pray for last night as we were putting her to bed. This was her response:

"I want to ask God to help Daddy be an artist when he grows up. Oh and for Mommy to be a firefighter."

Yes, randomness abounds at the Bruce house.

Performance Appraisal

I have to avoid mirrors at all costs whenever Kyra is mad or upset. Having a mirror around only prolongs the process indefinitely, as every time she'll start to calm down, she looks in the mirror, sees how she looks, then watches herself start to wail again. And you can tell by watching and listening that it's not a genuine thing...she's doing it purely for her own benefit. You can look at her eyes and see that she's concentrating on her facial expression and tone as she dramatizes her angst. I thought that didn't hit until she was a teenager! Soap opera city...ugh.

Baby Love

Siana has gotten to where she is very free and intentional with showing affection. It is one of my greatest pleasures in life to go in to get Siana when I hear her wake up from a nap or something, walk into the room and see her face light up as she catches my eye...then as I pick her up and cuddle her close, she plants the wettest, slobberiest, most lick-ful kiss right on my mouth. It's messy, but the love and sweetness behind it just fills my heart every time she plants a smooch on me. What an awesome thing to be able to experience...pure unadulterated love from the tiniest of people who doesn't yet know how to speak but can express herself all the same.

Gimme an M!

I was goofing around with Kyra today with a set of pom poms she bought with some birthday money she got. I had my hair in a ponytail and shoved the stick of the pom poms down into the ponytail so it looked like the streamers were part of the ponytail too. Kyra started laughing and I played innocent like there was nothing out of the ordinary. I jokingly said something about there not being pom poms anywhere, and that was just what my hair looks like. Kyra then informed me, "Mommy, that is not your hair. Those are pom poms and right now, you don't look like the Mommy God wants you to be."

Waterworks

I typically bathe Siana in the kitchen sink and leave the water on so I can periodically replace the soapy water with clean water without having to reconfigure the temperature, etc. Anyway, tonight, as I had the faucet near her and was rinsing her off, she decided to see what would happen if she stuck her thumb up into the stream of water. It, of course, shot all over the place and sprayed her directly in the face. I chuckled and waited to see how she would react. She shook her head in surprise, wiped the water out of her eyes and nose with her fists, and then did it again, and again, and again. Each time she did it, she did the same thing...shook her head in surprise, then wiped the water out of her eyes and nose. Eventually she got the idea that maybe she could get a drink in this fashion, so she modified her approach a bit to include opening her mouth as wide as she could possibly get it and leaning it toward the water. This succeeded in one thing only...shooting even more water directly into her little face. It was quite the funny thing to watch. I don't think she ever did get it to spray in her mouth, but she sure seemed to have fun trying.

Compliments by Kyra

Kyra looked up at me today and said, "You're the best lady in town."

Random Song of the Day #2

(melodically) "I loooove you as I stomp my feet....."

Kyra Made-Up Song of the Day

"iiiiiiiii'm an Englishman!
I'm an Englishman!
I'm an Englishman walking around town!"

Kyra Quote of the Day

Kyra kissed Siana on the cheek this morning and said:
"I'm going to kiss Siana again. She will be delighted."

Eye Problems

In telling Kyra it was time to go to sleep this evening, she replied, "But I can't close my eyes very well." I said, "Why not?" She said, "Because they keep coming back open...like this...see?"

Old=Dead

Kyra was on the phone with my mom yesterday and she made some interesting connections during their conversation. I'm sure most of it had to do with conversations we've had with her regarding the recent death of my grandma. Kyra had just repeated the same thing like 3 times because my mom either didn't quite hear her or didn't understand what she'd said. Apparently mom then apologized and said she didn't hear Kyra very well, to which Kyra asked Why. Mom replied, Well, I'm just getting old I guess. Kyra instantly responded, "Oh. You're gonna die." Mom just laughed and said, "Well, hopefully not for a while" and Kyra said, "Yeah."

Bandits!

We've been listening quite frequently to the soundtrack from Rent (the clean songs at least). One of the most famous songs from this musical is Seasons of Love (525,600 Minutes). One section of the song goes like this: 525,600 minutes...525,600 moments so dear...525,600 minutes...How do you measure, measure a year? Kyra has taken a liking to this song and sings it incessantly. However, in her mind, it apparently goes like this:

125,600 Bandits
125,600 Bandits
125,600 Bandits
How do you measure exactly what you are?

No wonder those people can't pay their rent...what with that many bandits around!

Kyra Quotes of the Day

Quote #1: "Wow, Mama, that loud noise scared me out of death!"

Later on in the day:

Quote #2: "Mommy! I'm 4! I amn't 3 anymore!"

Drinks Only

While discussing where we wanted to eat, Kyra declared that she wanted Cici's Pizza. I looked at her and said But you don't like pizza! She looked back and said, Yeah, but I can just have the drinks there.

Kyra Quote of the Day

As we were eating dinner at Subway tonight, Kyra was rapidly consuming her dinner and said enthusiastically, "They make the best turkey sandwiches here!"

Preschool Freestyling

There is a show on HGTV called FreeStyling, and the premise of the show is a designer goes into someone's house and uses all their existing furnishings and accessories, but redesigns the room to make better use of the space. Well, we watched that show yesterday and after I helped Kyra straighten her room up later on in the day, she began using some of the techniques she'd witnessed on FreeStyling. We got all her clothes put away and all of her toys and books as well, so I went to the other room to get her a drink that I had promised her. While I was rinsing her cup and pouring her milk, she came into the kitchen and told me that she had put some things in her room "in different places." I said "You did?" She replied, "Yes. I put some things in different places. Come and see!" So I went down the hall with her leading me by the hand and she showed me her room redesign, which consisted of a stack of books being moved to a different shelf that was now flanked on one side by a little boy figurine from her toy bin and a lovely costume ring on the other side. She was quite proud of her arrangement and told me how they were the things she had moved to different places and now she had them right there and told me which things she had used in her 'space.' My little budding designer.

Tribute to my Gramma Qualls

My mom posted a great tribute to my Gramma Qualls this morning, so she'll be my post for the day:


Wayfaring Stranger: The Times They Are A-Changing!

Kitchen Affection

I am officially raising a full fledged drama queen. This afternoon, Kyra was sitting at the table eating some yogurt for a snack while I was feeding Siana some cereal. All of a sudden, she looks at me wistfully and says with great emotion, "I just love this kitchen." I looked at her a bit strangely and said, "You love our kitchen?" She looked back and said with what appeared to be nostalgia and said just as dramatically, "Yes. I love this kitchen." So I decided to play along and asked, "What do you love about the kitchen?" She thought a moment and replied, "The windows." I chuckled and said, "You like the windows?" She said yes and I asked her what else she liked about the kitchen. She then said, "I love when I come into the kitchen after school. I just really love this kitchen." Alrighty then.

An Extra Long Break

I noticed a half-done puzzle in the living room floor that Kyra had started this morning and commented, "Kyra, you never finished your puzzle." To this, she replied, "Oh. I was just takin' a break."

Health Code Violation?

We went out to eat with my sis and her b/f this evening and as we walked in, we passed a recently deserted table that had yet to be bussed. It just happened to be the same table we had eaten at the last time we ate at this restaurant. As we walked by, Kyra noticed the plates and mostly eaten food and exclaimed with a surprised expression, "Look! It's our stuff from last time!!!"

5-second rule

Tonight as we were eating dinner, Kyra grabbed a piece of food that was lying by itself on the table, which she promptly popped into her mouth. My sister then said, "Ew! Kyra that was off the floor...sorry!" Kyra looked at her nonchalantly and said perkily, "Still good!"

Another Brick in the Wall

Nana to Kyra as she's playing with blocks: Kyra, what are you building?

Kyra to Nana: Oh, The Great Wall of China.

Cute everyday

Kyra did something today that caused my Mom to hug her and comment, Kyra, you're so cute! Kyra looked back at her, put her hands in the air, shrugged her shoulders, then said, I'm like this every day!!!

Imitation

Apparently Kyra is starting to include a whole lot of Mom and Dad's phrase-ology into her own little vocabulary. Here are a couple amusing things that have come out of her mouth recently that sound a bit familiar....

Upon being told it was time to leave Grammy B's house and come back to where we were staying the night: "Soooo...it's been fun playin at your house Grammy B. Bye!"

On the airplane with Daddy coming home from Michigan: "Man! It's stinkin hot in this plane!"

Mermaid Rationale

Upon being told it was time to exit the pool so we could dry off and get some dinner, this was Kyra's long-winded and musically delivered response:

I'm going to stay here all day and all night because I like to swim in the water at night. I don't need to eat because mermaids don't need food, and I'm a Mermaaaaaaid!

Ok then. Now let's get out and dry off. =)

Say What???

It's been a bit quiet in my little blogworld the past week or so because this entire week, we've been sucked into the vortex of VBS. Loads of fun, but exhausting! However, I found it quite humorous that I had two incidents just today noticing the extreme Texan accents that you would think I would be accustomed to by now. Even though I hear them often, that doesn't mean I always understand it clearly. Some accents are so thick that they might as well be speaking a completely foreign language to me. For example, today, I received a phone call from Steven's cell phone, so I picked up and said "Hey!" Then after a sentence or so, I realized I had no idea whatsoever of any single word that sentence contained, so I said "What?" The caller then repeated the sentence over again and I realized that I heard some twang in there and that even though this was my husband's phone, it was not him on the line with me. I then had to request, "I'm sorry, can you say that one more time?" The poor guy on the other end then said very slowly for my benefit, "Ma'am, this is so and so from Barnes and Noble. We found this cell phone on the floor and this was the home number." Ah. Yes. That I understood. The other funny incident was at dinner this evening. As we were finishing up our food at one of the restaurants by our house, the manager was coming around from table to table saying the same thing to each group he approached. It sounded a little something like this: "Howzhyallzmealz?" or perhaps it was more like this: "How zhyallz mealz." This happened to a couple tables before ours, so I had time to interpret before he actually got to our table. Apparently, he just wanted to know if we were liking our food or not. Go figure.

Somebody Stop Them!

Steven has been away at a conference this entire week, so as a fun thing on our last night as 3 bachelorettes, the girls and I went to eat at TGI Friday's. Well, Kyra and I ate, Siana just sat there and grinned at passersby. =) On the way there, I asked Kyra what she was going to eat at Friday's. She thought about it and surprised me by saying Spaghetti, rather than her usual standard of chicken strips. I asked her what she wanted for dessert since this was a special girls night out before Daddy came home. She said we could get Oreo Madness (my favorite). I told her with much regret that someone crazy had decided to discontinue the Oreo Madness and we couldn't get it anymore. She looked confused and said They can't do that!!! I agree with the sentiment, but told her that there wasn't anything we could do to stop them. She then started thinking hard and said, "Well, who can stop them?" I said, "Probably nobody." She replied, "Bad guys?" I just chuckled because I doubt any bad guys would take up our case and stop them from taking our beloved Oreo Madness off the menu.

Kyra Quote of the Day

"I wish my hair was yellow and puffy like Cindewella's"

Favorite Things, Part 2

So I decided to take the same route as Steven did and ask Kyra what she would like to get her Daddy for Father's Day. I once again got comical and unusual responses.

Me: Kyra, what should we get Daddy for Father's Day?
Kyra: Flowers!!!
Me: You want to get Daddy some flowers?
Kyra: Yeah! Flowers!
Me: Ok. What else should we get him for Father's Day?
Kyra: A sticker. Maybe with a monkey on it.
Me: You want to get Daddy a monkey sticker...?
Kyra: Yeah. Or we could get him a sticker with an elephant on it! Maybe they have a sticker with an elephant on it store!

So Mommy gets Wal-Mart and Taco Bueno and Daddy gets Flowers and Stickers. It cracks me up the way her little mind works! But why couldn't I get the flowers???

Technology

I am a technology buff, just like my husband, father, and now daughter. It constantly amazes me how far technology has come since the days of my youth where I played Wheel of Fortune on our old NEC computer in our basement back in the 80's. You know the kind of game with the "melodic beeps" pumping out the theme song and Vanna moving across the screen in exactly the same position but side to side...you know what I'm talking about Ad. =) For those of you who've never seen a game this old and cheesy, I do a mighty fine impression of the stellar graphic movements of Ms. White. haha But back then, we thought it was the coolest thing ever to be able to play Wheel just by putting in a floppy disk the size of your head. We also had Jeopardy and $10,000 Pyramid, which of course had similarly stellar graphics.... Anyway, it's incredible the advancements in technology in the last 20-25 years. I am so thankful for the fact that even though my family now lives 1000+ miles away from my parents, sister, Mammaw, and in-laws, my daughters can see any of these family members any time they want because of the miracle of internet video chatting. Kyra and Siana will never know a time where they can't just hop on the computer when they miss their family and see them and hear their voices. And all this for free even!!! It's not as good as a great big hug, but it certainly shrinks the miles to a manageable size. And Kyra, through instant messaging, is learning to spell all kinds of words. She can carry on a decent typed conversation for a while all on her own through the skills she's learning from this technology. It keeps us connected to family across the country and it's educational at the same time. What more can you ask for? Well, maybe an interactive hug vest, but I'm sure that's not far down the road....

The Hills Are Alive....

with the sound of music coming from our entertainment center day in and day out. The Sound of Music is Kyra's new obsession. She asks to watch it pretty much every day. This is no small feat because the thing is long enough to have an intermission. It's a great movie and we like watching it, but just not every single day. She is quite amusing to watch the movie with as she is a nonstop barrage of questions from the beginning credits to the ending ones. The most common of which is, "Where is the singer? Where is the singer now? Where did the singer go? When is the singer going to come back?" and so on and on and on and on. It also amuses us to hear her rendition of So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye. And so I say to you, in Kyra's own words, so long, farewell, 'it's time to say' goodbye....

The next Bill Gates???

Ok, I've blogged before about Kyra's emerging tech savvy, but she crossed the line of all I've blogged about before over the course of the past week. A couple days ago, she hopped on the computer and after a couple minutes, we heard music playing. We thought she'd opened iTunes by chance and randomly started up a CD. How wrong we were. Mac has a feature accessible from the desktop called Spotlight that is basically a search feature that searches for your keyword throughout your entire computer and pulls up everything with that word in it, whether it be in the middle of a Word document or an email you have in your inbox. Well, we discovered that Kyra had clicked open Spotlight and typed in her name. Spotlight pulled up everything in the entire computer with her name in it and displayed it for her to peruse. So she had quite a few pictures open and was currently watching a movie of the kids that Steven had made, which was where the background music came from. What 3 year old opens up a computer search engine and does a search on herself??? That cracked us up. So today, I was making dinner and Steven was snoozing on the couch after work. I called to them that dinner was ready, and Kyra replies, "Hang on, I'm doing sometin' on here." I chuckled and assumed she had opened up one of her games and was in the middle of playing it. After a couple minutes of nobody making any indication that they were coming to dinner, I went into the living room myself, woke up Steven, and noticed that Kyra was playing a game on the Playhouse Disney website. I smiled and asked Steven, "Did you log onto Disney for her?" He looked at me, still a little groggy, and said no. We both kind of looked at each other for a minute, then looked back at her in amazement. We then set about to figuring out how on earth she got onto the Playhouse Disney website because although she's becoming quite the little typist due to internet chatting with my parents, we both know for a fact she can't spell something as long as 'Playhouse Disney.' I was especially confused because yesterday, I had taken the internet browser icon off her desktop to prevent her from getting on the web unsupervised.... Yeah, that almost worked. I'm going to have to be smarter than my 3-year-old. *sigh* Anyway, we asked her how she got to that website. She goes into this long monologue that went something like this, "Well, I clicked switch user and got onto my account and then I clicked Mini HD (kind of like the PC start menu) and clicked 'Users.' Then I clicked 'Kyra' and then I clicked 'Sites.'" We were doing all of this as she described what she'd done and ended up with a dummy webpage, but it was in a legitimate web browser. She couldn't remember what she did after that, but we surmised that somehow she'd gotten the address bar highlighted and must've clicked the 'D' key, which would pull up past webpages because Disney.com was the first 'D' page to come up. Then all she had to do was hit return and off she went to the Disney site. All of that makes perfect sense, except for the fact that it was done by a 3-year-old!!! Steven and I were just wide-eyed and laughing, but more than a little concerned. She had been surfing the web for at least 1/2 hour without any supervision, which can be a recipe for disaster at any age. I made a joke before about having to get internet parental controls for my preschooler, but now we're actually going to do just that. Holy cow!

On a Schedule

A few days ago, Kyra declared that she was "not feewing vewwy good...I fink I'm a widdle bit sick." (Ended up she was just hungry.) But in response, I told her how sorry I was that she was feeling yucky and said I hoped she felt better very soon. She replied back, "Oh, I will be better soon. I'll be better in June." I chuckled and told her that it was indeed June. "Oh," she says, "well, maybe next January then." Ok. I'll be waiting.

Who ya gonna call?

We were in the Kohl's dressing room today minding our own business and Kyra was of course, providing a running commentary on every thought that passed through her mind. =) Another woman had entered the dressing room around the same time we did and was accompanied by her son of around 9 years old or so. The boy was acting as her runner whenever she needed something else in another size. Well, while we were in our dressing room and she was in hers about 4 stalls down, and during a rare lull in Kyra's monologue, we hear this woman call for her son, "Austin...pausepausepause...Austin?" So Kyra, being the helper that she is, decided to help this woman summon the boy and yells as loud as she can, "AUSTIN!" From down the hall, the woman starts cracking up and I am chuckling, silently thanking God that at least we were behind closed doors.

Hack-Hack-Grin

The innate knowledge that babies are born with amazes me. They are born knowing the proper technique to get their food. They are born knowing that you're supposed to be scared of falling. And apparently, they're born knowing that when you cough, someone will turn and look at you. I know that all babies do this, but actually seeing my own babies do it cracks me up. Siana, for a couple months now has been frequently performing the trick where she does this goofy little fake cough and then waits for someone to turn and look at her. Whoever does turn and look is then rewarded with a huge toothless grin and often a cute baby giggle. Who teaches them this? It's not like we sit around as a family and cough when we want attention. It just amazes me that she figured this trick out all on her own, as did Kyra, and as has every other baby on the planet.

I think not

After disobeying this morning and having done the time for her crime, I asked Kyra if she understood why she'd gotten into trouble. She said no. So I told her to think about it and think about what she had done to cause her punishment. She turned to me after a second and said, "I don't have any thinks."

These are a few of my favorite things...

Steven told me last night that he had some trouble in assisting Kyra while finding a Mother's Day present for me. He asked her what she wanted to get me several times and she just kept saying she didn't know. So he thought he'd simplify and suggest that they get a gift certificate for me. He asked her, "What store should we get Mommy a gift certificate for so she can go shop there?" Kyra naturally said, "Wal-Mart!!!" Daddy tried to clarify a little a said, "Well, let's think, what is Mommy's favorite store?" To which she again replied, "Mommy loves Wal-Mart!" Amused, he then tried another angle and said, "Well, how about a restaurant? What is Mommy's favorite place to eat?" Kyra got very excited about this one and enthusiastically exclaimed, "Taco Bueno!!!" The store and restaurant she chose are not necessarily typical Mother's Day fare, but I've got to give it to her, the girl knows her mama. =)

Accuracy in Artistry

Last week at church, Kyra was drawing a picture of her Daddy leading singing. After she'd finished her masterpiece, she was whispering to me the details of what she'd drawn. She pointed out, "there's his head, his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his belly button, and there's his hairy bottom." I don't think I needed quite THAT much detail.

Boots-Boots-O

I don't know if it is the "official" logo or not, but scattered in several places in Amarillo is the word Amarillo with both L's replaced by a pair of boots. One of these is on an overpass on the highway, and another is in a restaurant called Cattle Call that we eat at occasionally. We were sitting in Cattle Call one evening having dinner and Kyra looks up at the wall where this Amarillo logo is painted. She says, "Look, that says Amarillo!" She then proceeds to spell it out, "A-M-A-R-I-Boots-Boots-O." She then gets a rather confused look on her face and repeats, "Boots-Boots-O???"

Surfin' USA

My 3 year old is officially a tech nerd (just like Mommy and Daddy). Today I got a mailing list email regarding some videos Kyra likes to watch (Signing Time). I stepped away from the computer because I was done checking my email and Kyra said she would like to look at the Signing Time pictures. I said sure and pulled up the email for her to look at. I went across the room to put Siana down on her little jungle gym toy and suddenly heard the Signing Time theme song pumping through the computer speakers.....????? I turned around and saw that Kyra had clicked from the email to the signing time website, had clicked through to the "products" page that listed all the available videos, had found a video she didn't have, and was checking out the sample video clips from that video. Holy cow! I then watched as the video clip ended and she moused up to the corner, clicked the red "x" button to close it and continued browsing the signing time videos. When did she learn how to do all that???? I'm going to have to set up parental internet controls for a 3 year old!

National Monuments

Kyra picked up our broom today, stood it on its end so the handle was on the floor and the bright yellow bristles were straight up in the air and said, "Look Mommy, the Statue of Wiberty!"

Naked Bunnies

Kyra was drawing pictures today and after she'd finished drawing a bunny, I asked her if she was going to color her bunny. She replied, "No, it's ok if he just be's naked."

Kyra on Crying

Kyra, Miss Loudness that she is, decided that Siana was too loud for her liking today. Siana has been fussy today, I think because she's about to have some bottom teeth. So during an unusual crying episode, I heard Kyra sternly telling the baby, "Siana, stop cwying! We weawwy can't hear anything! You're weawwy good, but now you're bad...stop cwying! You're fweakin me out!"

(weawwy=really)

No Smoking Zone

As Kyra was brushing her teeth tonight, she made the comment, look Mommy, it's like smoking. She then proceeded to blow air down the handle of her toothbrush. I was a little stunned as we've never talked about smoking before and I don't think she knows anyone who does it (at least not that I'm aware of). I asked her what smoking was and she once again sucked on her toothbrush and then blew on it. I figured we probably should have some sort of conversation about it, so I asked her how she knew what smoking was. She said she saw somebody do it when she was with Daddy. I then asked her if it was good for our bodies or bad for our bodies. She said it was bad for our bodies and that when she grew up, she was going to be a "Smoking Challenger" and was going to tell smoking to go away. She then said, That's when I grow up. I'm going to tell God that."

Big Girl Einstein

As we were out for a walk today, Kyra randomly mentioned that she wanted to buy a new Baby Mozart movie because ours is broken. (It's been broken for a couple of years). I responded that if we bought a new one, it would actually be for Siana and not for her because it would probably be pretty boring to her since she's a big girl now. She contemplated this for a minute, then said, I bet they make Big Girl Einstein too. I said, Really? She said, Yeah, and Big Girls that Go Potty Einstein. Hmmmm...that would be something.

Money Matters

Kyra is to the stage that everything she sees on TV and in magazines she wants. The latest trend is that she tells us she wants it for her birthday. The other day we were in Walmart and she found a Dora toothbrush she liked and asked if she could ask for it for her birthday. I said that she sure could, and she excitedly put it back on the shelf saying she really hoped she got it for her birthday. The fellow next to us was greatly amused by this little interchange since it was regarding a $5 toothbrush. But I digress....we were looking through a Toys R Us magazine today and Kyra was pointing out all the items on each page that she wanted for her birthday. She pointed to a couple of low dollar items and then said how much she wanted an inflatable obstacle course that was listed at the low low price of $349.99. I told her that was definitely a cool plaything, but look how much money it costs to buy. She looked and read 3-4-9. I said, yeah, three hundred and forty nine dollars, do you know how much that is? She of course said no. So I simply said it's a whole lot of money. I showed her one dollar and said with great emphasis that it's 349 of these. Her eyes got wide and she wanted to see how much the other things she wanted cost. She then pointed to a smaller inflatable bounce house and said this one is 1-4-9. I said yeah, that one is one hundred and forty nine dollars. She then responded, eyes wide, in a super dramatic stage whisper, wow....

Kyra Conversation of the Day

Kyra to Daddy: "Can you come swim with us?"
Daddy to Kyra: "I can't yet. I don't have a swimsuit...I have to go to the store and get one."
Kyra to Daddy: "But you can just swim naked."
Daddy to Kyra: "Um, no, I don't think so. But thanks."

The I.M. generation LOL :)

Tonight in Steven's office at church, Kyra walks up and turns on his computer monitor saying, "I need to check and see if Strawberry Shortcake is online."

New ice cream flavor?

We went to lunch at Jason's Deli today with Steven. Jason's has one of those free ice cream machines, so when we were done eating, I took Kyra over to get a small cup of ice cream. There was the traditional vanilla, chocolate, and swirl options, so I asked Kyra which kind she wanted. She said Chocolate, so I asked her if she wanted plain chocolate or 'swirl.' She looked at me with a funny look on her face and a slightly scrunched up nose and said Chocolate. I got her the chocolate ice cream and then she looked at me again with that same funny look on her face and said, "Which one is Squirrel?" Ew. No wonder she picked the chocolate!

Random Kyra Thought of the Day

Kyra: Mommy, why does Strawberry Shortcake live alone?

Me: (floundering) Well, maybe she's older than she looks....???

Just for the spell of it

Since Kyra can read anything you put in front of her at this point, we can no longer write things we don't want her to know about. We've resorted to quickly spelling certain words, and sometimes whole sentences in some conversations. I've gotten so proficient at this technique that I now find myself spelling random words in the middle of sentences that I have no cause to spell. This is evidenced by something I told Steven in the car today. We were driving past our neighborhood pool which we've been considering buying a membership to this summer. I informed him that the girls and I checked it out on our walk the other day and that I didn't know what it's like when it's cleaned up, but at this point, it looks a little "g-h-e-t-t-o." I then thought about it and realized there was absolutely no reason to spell that. *sigh* I'm sure this is only going to get worse....

RIP bugs

We were heading out the front door to go on a walk today when Kyra noticed some dearly departed flies on the threshold. She looked down and shouted, "Mommy! There's bugs in the door!" I glanced over and told her that it was ok because they were dead and they were outside. So she leans down for a closer inspection and once satisfied, yells loudly at the unresponsive insects, "You're dead!!!" Just making sure everyone is clear on that.

The Gift of Mac 'n' Cheese

Kyra enjoys looking through the parenting magazine we get. She loves seeing the kids and families in there, and enjoys looking at the ads, telling me all the things she wants for her birthday, or whatever holiday is coming up next. She was looking at one of these magazines this morning and made an odd request along with the other items she was listing as birthday wants. She flipped the page and said, "Mommy, I want this Macawoni and Cheese for my birthday." I think I can fulfill that one....

Teenagers

We just got back from playing with Kyra's friends Adley and Corbin a few minutes ago. We're now headed to the library and Kyra wanted to know if Adley and Corbin were going to the library too. I told her that they probably weren't because their mom was probably getting ready for the teenagers to come over tonight for Bible study (their dad is a youth minister at our church). She asked why the teenagers were going to go to their house. I told her that they were going to have a Bible study just like we used to do with the teenagers at our old house when her Daddy was a youth minister. She said, "Teenagers used to come to our house?" So I said yes. She then asked what their names were, so I told her a few of the kids who used to come over, some of whom she remembered. She then asked, "When they came over did they wear their teenager clothes?" I'm not sure where or why that question originated, but told her that yes, they did indeed wear their teenager clothes.

Birthday Themes

Kyra was talking in the car today about her birthday (which is still a long way off in July). She decided out loud that she wants to have a "Joseph and the Amazing Dreamer Coat" birthday party. She's recently become obsessed with the Joseph musical movie. She was talking about all the things she wants to have at the party, like hats and cups, and plates and napkins, and candy bags for each kid. She then said, "Oh yeah, and a Joseph cake pan...I think they have those at Hobby Lobby." Yeah, we'll just have to check into that one.

Jesus? Where?

Steven and I were going to small group tonight with the girls and were discussing something about the sermon this morning. I mentioned a part of the sermon and said something about Jesus walking down the road with his disciples. Kyra pipes up from the back seat and said "Mommy, what did you say?" I said I mentioned Jesus walking down the road with his friends. She then looks around from side to side out the window and says, "Where? I didn't see him...."

Kyra Quote of the Day

"Dad, you need to shave. Dad, why is it in the morning, it all comes back out? Huh. Weird."

Just Seein'

Kyra and I were cleaning up her room, which looked like a clothing bomb had exploded recently. I was asking her to retrieve all the pajamas that were lying around and I asked her for a pair of pajama pants near her. She brought them to me and as I started to fold them up, I was surprised to find yet another pair of pajama pants inside them. I asked her how the other pants got inside these. She nonchalantly replied, "I put those pants on and then I put the other pants on on top of them." Out of curiosity, I asked her why she did that. She said, "Just to see how it feeled." Ok. So of course, I asked her, "So how did it feel?" She responded, "It was a little bit hard, but a little bit cozy."

Our Tenderhearted Baby

It's incredible how much personality can be seen in a person who's only 3 months old. Siana, I can already tell, is going to be my sensitive, tenderhearted child. She takes after her daddy in that respect. It's the most amazing thing...she will hear another child crying, particularly Kyra, and she will go from happy and smiling to her bottom lip trembling and tears welling up in her eyes. We will assure her that everythng is ok, and she'll go right back to giggling and grinning. It's a very sweet characteristic, but it should make the already hormonal teen years interesting.

Angela Version 29.1

Steven and I were blessed to attend a ministers, elders, and wives retreat this past weekend. A wonderful lady from church offered to keep Kyra while we were gone and so we went off to a state park in Oklahoma for 2 nights. This year's retreat was centered around fellowship and community since there are 4 new elders coming in and several ministers who are still fairly new. It was such a great experience for me to get to know some people I had never really spent any time with before, as well as to deepen bonds with people I already call friends. One of the main themes of the retreat was telling your story. This was played out in small groups of 4 or 5. Each person in the small group was given as much time as they needed to tell their story. There was no restriction on what you could say or what aspect of your story to tell. We were each given a free license to tell whatever version and amount of detail of our story as we felt led to do. As I've reflected on the weekend, I realize how long it has been since I've allowed people to really enter into my story. Anyone who knows much about me knows that I'm a pretty unemotional person, but as I told my story with a clear head and calm spirit, I ended up pouring out a lot more emotion than I intended. That was the most difficult part for me. I will tell anyone anything they want to know about me, but it will be a very sterile rendition of the story. As I thought about the version of the story I told that day, I think I can pinpoint my emotional shutoff to when we first moved to Indiana from Michigan when I was 11. I guess I just found it easier to deal with life in general without all those pesky emotions getting in the way, so I just ignored them. I got so good at it that they pretty much disappeared altogether, aside from happy and excited, because those were the "good" ones. Other feelings would pop up occasionally, but it was few and far between. I also remember that when I went off to college without knowing a soul there, I felt like I could basically reinvent myself and start over as whatever kind of person I wanted to be. That was extremely liberating and I did make a lot of changes during that transition, from a publicly quiet and reserved person to much louder and much more outgoing person. I jumped into a lot of college activities right off the bat, whereas before, I wasn't involved in much non-academic stuff until my senior year in high school. To come back to the present, I think that might be the opportunity that God is presenting me with once again at this time in my life. I'm seeing a better way to be and a better way to relate to people than what I've been practicing. After this weekend, I realize I want to know people and to be known myself, good, bad, and ugly. I think that's where true friendship and intimacy comes in, you see all the "stuff" and love anyway. I was able to experience a "safe" environment to be me, all of me, emotions included, and still be ok. I don't know if I'll ever be a weepy, hyper emotional female, but I am re-learning to unlock my emotional closet and give myself some room. I think I've missed a lot of what God has wanted to teach me by not paying attention to the way I feel. By turning off that part of myself, I've turned off a part of what God created in me. I can already see some areas that he's wanting me to work on and recognize that he has already provided me with the support system and the friendships I need to make those changes. I'm a little uneasy going forward into "new/old" territory, but I know, as with anything God asks of us, the rewards will outweigh any cost.

Siana's Vocal Stylings

Over the last week and a half, Little Miss Siana has found her voice. For the better part of the day, she spends her time imitating and inventing all the different sounds she hears and some that she just enjoys making. She will go from little baby aaahs to sudden loud yelps to what sounds like a velociraptor on the hunt. She gargles and laughs and raises her eyebrows so high they just might fall off the top of her head when you engage her in conversation. She opens her eyes as big as she can possibly open them and her body flails and wriggles as she tries to produce a sound, any sound at all. Her legs start running a horizontal marathon and her arms flap as if she may suddenly take flight. Her face lights up so bright you could almost turn the lights off and still see. It's an amazing and precious thing to watch. I think she's going to give her big sister a run for her money as far as being incessantly verbal. However, I believe she, like Kyra, has inherited my sometimes unfortunate trait of a voice that carries. So until both girls learn some volume control, we're going to have a very loud house. Even so, we're having a blast watching her attempting to communicate and are anxiously waiting to hear just what it is that she has to say.

The Fine Art of Negotiation

Kyra and I were in the car after meeting a friend for lunch today and I told her what the agenda for the rest of the afternoon was. She had mentioned earlier on the way to lunch that she wanted to go to Lifeway and Family Christian Store to read books today, and repeated that request again. My main goal was to get some things done to the car, oil change, etc., so the likelihood that we'd be able to fit anything else into the afternoon was slim to none based on typical car place timetables. I told her that we had other things to do today and might not be able to go read books, but if we didn't have time today, we'd definitely go another day soon. She thought about it for a moment, and then said, "Hey Mom, how about we do your plans first and then we can do my plans."

I love that she's starting to really think things through and figure out ways to accomplish everything that we both need to do. I also love that she has "plans." =) However, on days like today, there was nothing I could do to accommodate her. It took almost 2 hours to get the car back, so we didn't get to go to her stores today, but it will definitely be a top priority for an upcoming afternoon!

For Crying Out Loud!

The other day, it seemed like I was forever popping Siana's paci back into her mouth. She was fed, freshly diapered, and sleepy but fighting it. And I swear, I would just sit down when she'd start fussing again because she'd lost her paci. So on one of the trips to replace it, I offhandedly made the comment, "Well, for crying out loud...." Kyra has since equated this, in the literal sense, with Siana crying in general. Now every time Siana starts fussing or crying, Kyra reports, Mom, Siana's 'for crying out loud.'

Amazing Love

It is astonishing to me that little children are so forgiving and unconditionally loving. Yesterday Kyra was playing next to Steven who was holding Siana on the couch. She got a little rambunctious and ended up accidentally head butting Siana on the top of her head. Siana cried like I've never heard her cry before with these giant tears streaming from her eyes. For one, it just breaks my heart to see my babies hurting, and two, I was a little worried she might have more than just a bruise because Kyra has a pretty hard noggin. I took the baby and got her calmed down enough to where I could try to determine whether or not we needed to take her to the doctor. After about 15 minutes, Kyra came over and wanted to talk to Siana and "twy to make her smile." I was completely expecting Siana to burst into tears at the very sight of her sister after what had just happened. However, as Kyra started talking to her and playing with her, Siana broke out into this enormous toothless grin. It was incredible. The forgiveness was instant and the love she has for her big sister was literally written all over her face. I only hope I can one day forgive that easily again and be like a little child in my love for others.

Kyra on death and dying

There was a tragic death involving the son of one of the members of our praise team at church yesterday. There was a lot of talk about it during services and in our own house as Steven works closely with this family. We tried to explain the situation to Kyra as best we could in terms she would understand, but I think the gravity of the situation is a little lost on her at the age of 3. This is evident by the conversation she began this morning:

Kyra: Oh no! My son just died!
Me: I'm so sorry! You must be very sad.
Kyra: No. I'm not sad.
Me: You're not? Well, how do you feel?
Kyra: Well, my friend just went up to Heaven to get my son, so he'll be back in just a minute.
Me: Really? He's coming back from Heaven?
Kyra: Yeah. He was done there.

Ok then. Guess we've got a lot of explaining to do as she gets older. However, she did ask to make Miss Emily a card to help her not be sad anymore, so she's getting some of it. The fact that she's becoming thoughtful of other people is good enough for me.

I see no mint

On the way home from small group tonight, Kyra was trying to dissuade us from the spankin she was to receive when we got home for disobeying Mommy and going out into the street alone. I told her that I was sorry, but she had chosen to receive her spankin when she chose to disobey. She then cried, "But I don't want a spankin because it will hurt!" I replied, "Well, that's kind of the point. That's why it's a punishment." Kyra replied back, "It's not a punishment...it's not a mint!"

You Tell Em!

Kyra was watching Veggie Tales this morning and cheering on her favorite character. She yelled something at the "bad guy" and Steven commented, "Yeah, you tell em!" She looked at him like he was nuts and said, "I just did...."

Blessing in de-skies

We were amazingly blessed to receive, out of the blue, 3 free plane tickets that the girls and I used to go back to Indianapolis for a visit. I had been racking my brain to figure out how we could afford tickets to go because I was missing my family and vice versa, plus I had a lot of shopping that I needed to get done that can't be done in Amarillo, unfortunately. God was truly faithful to our family and provided this totally unexpected opportunity for us. The girls and I had an amazing visit with my family and with my in-laws, but even being there over a week didn't get to see everyone we wanted to visit with. Such is life. We're hoping to go back as a complete family unit soon, as the most difficult part of the trip was being away from Daddy. I'm still blown away by this incredible gift and am so thankful to have been the recipient.

Footwear Foible

My sister and I went out to lunch today with Kyra and Siana. We were passing the time while waiting for our food by playing the games on the kids' menus we got and ended up engaged in a friendly competition of who could finish the word search first. Kyra and I had a clear lead and Adrienne off-handedly made the comment, "You guys are kicking my booty." Kyra glanced under the table and said, "Ady, you're not wearing booties, you're wearing shoes!"

Presto Change-o

The past two nights, Kyra has been getting up after we put her to bed and changing her room. It's a little unnerving because she's done this without our knowledge, which means she's being extremely quiet about it. And anyone who knows her or has read my previous posts, realizes this is quite unlike her. Last night, we went in to check on her and make sure she was covered up and warm around an hour after we'd put her to bed. To our surprise, we found her previously slightly messy room immaculate.... Then we found that she'd stuffed everything into her closet and shut the door. But her room definitely looked nice! Fast forward one day.... This evening, I once again went in to check on her about an hour and a half after we'd put her to bed and found her room completely trashed...drawers hanging open, her basket of blankets rumpled and half empty.... Then I noticed Kyra's jammies that she'd gone to bed in were lying in the doorway. Curious as to what she had on now, I walked over to her bed, and found her looking ever so fabulous in a black velvety dress, complete with matching black tights! I started giggling and ran and got Steven so he could see the metamorphosis also. Funny, yes, but boy does she have a mess to clean up tomorrow morning!

Tidy up your language!

Steven and I were walking through the mall on Friday with the girls, when all of a sudden, Kyra turns to me and says, "Mommy, what's titties?" I looked at her funny and said, "What's what....?" She says again, "What's titties?" I was racking my brain trying to figure where she'd heard or read that word and kept coming up blank. So I calmly asked her, "Where did you see that word, honey?" She said, "In my book." So of course, I asked her what book and what it said. She replied, "In my Peedie book from the library. It said Peedie 'titties' up his nest." I chuckled and figured out what word she meant. So I replied, "Oh! TIDIES. Peedie TIDIES up his nest. It means to clean up." She said, "OH! Tidies. Ok." Whew. Steven and I looked at each other with laughing eyes and internally breathed a sigh of relief.

The Mommy Dance

At her usual time the other night, Siana started to get hungry and sleepy, so I started our nighttime routine. I laid her down on the changing table, pulled a diaper down off the shelf, got a wipe ready, and changed her diaper. We have a SwaddleMe blanket deal that we wrap her in, which makes her look like a little baby burrito and helps her sleep really soundly. I got the SwaddleMe out and started to adjust it and get it ready to put her in. Meanwhile, she's lying on the changing table and getting irritated because she's hungry. She started to fuss and I immediately started bouncing and swaying. I just as immediately felt like a total idiot because the baby was lying there on the changing table and not in my arms. But apparently distance dancing also does the trick, because she stopped fussing and looked at me strangely, probably wondering What on earth was that? At least nobody saw but the baby, and she'll never tell.... =)

Bottoms Up

We go to small group on Sunday evenings at Kyra's friend Spencer's house. She and Spencer get to enjoy each other's company while the grown ups have a devotional and some fellowship. Well, last Sunday, Kyra headed to the potty before small group started and I wasn't really paying much attention because going to the potty has become old news for her by now. As she exited the bathroom and headed back upstairs to the play room, the guy sitting next to me on the couch commented nonchalantly, "Was Kyra wearing pants? Because she's not now." I immediately snapped to attention and said, "No pants whatsoever?" He told me she still had her underwear on, but had apparently nixed the pants in the bathroom. I quickly checked out the bathroom and found her pants lying in the floor, deemed unnecessary by a 3 year old who would rather be naked 99% of the time. I grabbed the pants and quickly beelined for the playroom to replace the discarded article of clothing on my half-naked little girl. I also informed her that although she may do that in the privacy of our own house, wearing pants is a requirement when we're out and about.

Ready or not

This afternoon, I told Kyra it was time for rest time, which meant she had to spend some quiet time in her room for a little while. I told her she didn't have to get in her bed, but she had to stay in her room. She went off to her room without incident and I started to get some work done around the house. After a while, I noticed it was abnormally quiet in there, so I went in to check on her. I found her sprawled face down across her bed, feet hanging off the edge, dressed in her pajamas and her slippers! I had sent her to quiet time fully clothed, so this amused me. Then as I got closer, I noticed she had even changed out of her underwear and put a pullup on! Apparently she was so sleepy she performed her entire nighttime ritual before she laid down to rest!

Finger assignments

We were talking today about what day tomorrow is, and the next day, and the next day. We talked about how tomorrow is Friday, which is the day Daddy gets to stay at home with us, then comes Saturday, when Daddy is also home, and when Nick Jr. comes on CBS (a big highlight in our house). So she calculated that Nick Jr. will be on in 2 days. We congratulated her on her brilliance, of course, and she held up 2 fingers, repeating that Nick Jr. is 2 days away, there's Friday and then Saturday. She then went on to expound that "this finger is Friday and this finger is Saturday!"

It's all about me

Steven and I were discussing a decoration for our living room today and where we thought it would look good, etc. Kyra butted in and informed us, "You can't talk about that! Stop talking about that!" We looked at her strangely and clarified, "Kyra, Mommy and Daddy are just talking about a decoration...." She came back with, "No...you can't talk about that! You have to talk about me!" Oh my. Let me be the first to gently and lovingly inform her that, contrary to what she may believe, the world does not indeed revolve around her.

Taking Root

Since we've moved to Amarillo, there's been a bit of a tug of war going on inside me as to whether or not I should put down roots here. I didn't really realize the resistance I had to settling in until I realized I was dreading getting Texas license plates for my car. How weird is that? It's like I want to be identified as a "foreigner" still, even though I live here now. I think I've been hanging on to some small piece of something that might even be construed as hope that we might not be here long and so I shouldn't get comfortable. I'm sure part of that comes from the fact that we never really got to settle into our last job, so maybe this will have a similar turnout. But at the same time, the thought of staying here only a short time makes me sad too because, like it or not, I've bonded with several people here already. The longer we've been here, the more I've realized that it's difficult not to put down roots because we ultimately long to be comfortable, familiar, and accepted where we are. And I've come to the conclusion that it's wrong of me to resist putting down my roots where my God has planted me. If I don't put down roots, then how can I grow? So, Amarillo, here's to a long or short relationship, but a piece of me and my family is officially a part of your landscape. We'll bloom as best we can for as long as we're here.

Robert Who?

Kyra's class last Wednesday night was about the Good Samaritan, and in her class, the kids each got to act out a part from the story. So she told me that someone played the hurt man and other kids played the "Roberts." I must have missed that part where they actually mentioned names....

Pete & Repeat

Ah, where to even start with this one? Well, I'll just prelude by saying that Kyra, good girl that she is, occasionally has a bit of an attitude issue. Typical 3 year old. Well, at times, these episodes progress to the point where she is threatened with a spanking or isolation in her bedroom if she continues her sassiness. She is also consistently, day in and day out, about 10 decibels louder than any other human being on any given occasion, happy, sad, mad, or glad. Which brings us to this evening. I had run into the store after dinner tonight and left Steven in the car with the girls. When I got back, Steven informed me that Kyra had repeated something I had said to her, apparently on enough occasions for her to remember the line verbatim. He said that she was increasing in volume during their conversation (as usual) and as she escalated into sonic boom volume, he said "Shhh" to remind her to keep her volume down. She then turned to him and very sternly said, "If you say that to me one more time, I'm going to wear your bottom out." I found this to be particularly humorous, although not in Kyra's presence. Steven, just as sternly, informed her that parents might say that to kids, but kids may not say that to parents. I'm not sure he found the humor in it as quickly as I did, but perhaps down the road he'll look back on this post and chuckle. =)

"Sign" Language

We had just come out of a restaurant with some take out this evening when Kyra started reading the posters in the windows of the stores flanking the restaurant. All of a sudden, she says, "muvpuhs...muvpuhs???" I asked her what she had said and she repeated the same strange word. I internally guessed what she had seen and began searching the signs for the culprit. I asked her where she saw that word and she read the sign that she was referring to. I looked next door at SportClips haircuts and saw what she was talking about. It was a large sign that had pictures of guys with nice haircuts and said something about being "M.V.P.'s" aka "muvpuhs."

Things we learn at the fair

Kyra did something the other day and I gave her the thumbs up sign and smiled at her. She smiled back and said "Thumbs up!" Then she put her thumb pointed toward the floor and said "Thumbs down." I laughed and asked her where she'd learned that, because I didn't even know she knew what those meant yet. She replied, "I don't know where I learned it. Probably at the fair one time." The fair? I've never taken her to the fair! I think she's been watching too much Charlotte's Web...the fair is a veritable shmorgasbord-orgasbord-orgasbord....

Kid Conversations

I overheard a funny conversation between Kyra (3) and her friend Spencer (4) yesterday at the Super Bowl party we attended. Here's how it went:

Kyra and Spencer are sharing an ottoman and watching the beginning of the Super Bowl.
Spencer to Kyra: Are you into football?
Kyra to Spencer: Nah.
Spencer: Then why are you watching it?
Kyra: Because I like it.
Spencer: I like soccer better.
Kyra: Yeah, I like baseball better.
Kyra and Spencer both walk away to "play" pool instead.

The whole conversation just cracked me up, particularly because I know for a fact that Kyra has never even seen a baseball game! I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to hear how their conversation progressed after that point. =)

Budding Shopaholic

Kyra was playing next to me in the bathroom while I was putting on my makeup this morning. We were playing store with some of my stuff and she declared, "Mommy, I'll be the shopper and you be the ma'am." "The ma'am?" I said. "Yes," she said, "I'm the shopper and you're the ma'am...Ma'am what do you have here?"

Working Girl

On the way home from church last night, Kyra and I were chatting in the car. Somehow we got onto the topic of jobs and she made the declaration that she's not going to have a job because she's not a boy. I found that interesting, because I stay at home with her, but she knows my mom and sister both work and we've visited them at their respective jobs. She went on to say that when she grows up and becomes a boy then she'll get a job. I responded that she won't ever be a boy because God made her a little girl. She pondered this a moment, and I asked her if she would ever have a job. She said yes, that when she grew up to be an adult, her job would be to watch "adult movies....like Red Eye!" I couldn't help myself and busted out laughing. Can I have that job too?

A Map of the Kingdom

Today, Kyra found a map that we keep in the car, opened it up, and declared in a regal voice, "This is a map of the Kingdom of the Lord!"

Impatient Exaggeration

Kyra was trying to put in a videotape to watch this morning and was not having much luck. The TV was on the wrong setting to watch a tape as Steven and I had watched a DVD the night before. She ran out of ideas on how to get it to play and finally with much exasperation said "This tape is making 20 hours to work!"

Hmmm and Wide

Kyra has a DVD with the song "Deep and Wide" on it. She's sang it before, but I never noticed anything funny. Well, she's been on an extended remix rendition today during her rest time. She's apparently not fully captured the first word. She thinks it's "D" and Wide, and has proceeded to sing the song with every other letter in the alphabet in the last 10 minutes. She's now on "W" and Wide, which doesn't quite have the same ring to it. Makes for a much longer song....

What am I saying???

The other day, Kyra and I were talking in the car about the Bible story we'd read the night before. It had been about Samson, and Kyra asked if he had big muscles. I said yes he did because God made him strong and gave him his big muscles. She seemed to be recalling a picture of Samson she'd seen and asked if the big circles on his arms were his big muscles. I said that yes, they were. She then asked me, Mommy, what are muscles? Since she'd just asked me if they were the circles on his arms, I chuckled and said well, what did you just ask me, remember what you said they were? So she said, Yes, but Mommy, I don't know what I'm saying. Join the club, kiddo, join the club. =)

My babies

I thought I would try something new and post a couple of pictures to my blog. I took these of the girls a few days ago and I think they're fun and sweet. Enjoy!

Working the System

Kyra is already learning how to "stick it to the man." We've been potty training officially for about 2 weeks now and once Kyra got it in her head that it was going to be beneficial to her, it's been a breeze. She's been ready for a long time, but with all the transition going on with us this last year, we had been holding off on pushing the issue. The method we used that finally convinced her was we put up progressively larger "potty charts" that as she filled each row, she earned a "potty prize" which got progressively cooler. The first chart required filling up a row of 3 to get a small prize, so the first few times, Kyra adamantly declared that she was going to go potty 3 times (in one sitting) so she could get her potty prize. We kept reiterating that her strategy would not work and that she would need to go potty 3 separate times to get her 3 stars to fill up the row and get her prize. She finally figured that out and for a few days that worked and she began filling up the rows and earning prizes. Then she got wise and figured out a way to work the system. She figured out that she could go potty, but hold a bit back so she could go again in about 10-15 minutes and get another sticker, and repeat until she filled up a row. Little stinker. She's putting something in the potty each time, so how could I argue? So the rest of the potty charts were filled fast and furious and she's gotten a barrage of prizes in a single week. However, even though she figured out a "shortcut," she's still going to the potty, which was the ultimate goal in the first place. So although I'm sure she thinks she's super smart for figuring out a faster path to the prizes and that she's the big winner in this, really, it's me! =)

What do babies dream?

One of my favorite things ever is when I'm holding Siana (and Kyra did this too) and she is totally asleep and just starts cracking up laughing in her sleep. I love that! It makes me wonder what in the world she is dreaming about that is so funny at just a few weeks old. Perhaps it's the funny face Daddy made at her this afternoon, or maybe even a funny face an angel made at her before she was born that she only remembers in her dreams. It's the coolest thing and it always makes me smile.

Takin Me Back

It's odd the power music has in my life. This power becomes even more pronounced during times of transition for me, it seems. There is a song from the late 80's that, whenever I hear it, immediately takes me back to the school bus riding to Jr. High one morning and also immediately puts a huge knot in the pit of my stomach because we had just moved to Indiana and I was horribly miserable and anxious every morning heading to school. Fast forward almost 20 years (yikes has it really been that long since jr. high???) to the present. Steven, Kyra, and I are big Zoe Group fans and have just about worn out every CD of theirs that we have (thank goodness for iPods!). For whatever reason, I haven't really listened to any of our Zoe CDs since moving to Amarillo. Yesterday, Kyra, Siana, and I were out for an afternoon drive after running a quick errand to Walgreens. We were out of the house and I really didn't feel like going back home so soon because driving around in traffic just makes me feel more alive sometimes (especially when bouncing back after having a 2nd child). So we drove through Hud's to get a shake for me and a "Kid's Spwite" for Kyra and popped in a Zoe CD. It was odd how it immediately made me miss one particular friend from Indy that I haven't talked to much since we moved. We used to sing together on the praise team pretty often, and we frequently sang the Zoe songs that were on the CD that I had chosen. I also realized that since we've moved I haven't really been singing, and neither has Kyra (not as much as she used to at least). So yesterday, we had a great time driving around aimlessly in the car belting out Zoe songs together and clapping our hands. But since listening to those songs, that particular friend has just been on my mind and in my heart for 2 days now. Funny thing is, SHE called ME this evening. God works in mysterious ways, eh? It was awesome to reconnect with her and laugh together again. She's one of those people that I just pick back up with like no time has passed...I love that! Made me awfully homesick though.... I like Amarillo, but the one thing that's the hardest for me to deal with is it's difficult to leave here. To fly home is expensive, since Kyra requires the purchase of a plane ticket now, and driving is just too far by myself for 14 hours with a newborn and a 3 1/2 year old. So I guess I'll just have to start saving my pennies. =) All this from just listening to a CD.... =) I know this has been a bit of an odd, meandering post, but rather therapeutic. I'll post something funny next time. =)

Stranger than Strange

Kyra and Daddy went on a "Daddy Date" for lunch today. This typically consists of lunch at McDonald's and then a trip to either Lifeway or Barnes & Noble. They did the traditional lunch at McDonald's and Kyra was telling me about the toys she and Daddy got in their happy meals. She said they got a Power Stranger and a Mr. Tumnus. A Power Stranger? I couldn't have said it better myself. =) And I fully intend to keep them Power "Strangers" in our house....

Spencer's Soap

Another item that appeared in Kyra's bathroom when family came to visit was a silver soap dispenser pump. She noticed it today and asked what it was. I told her it was a soap dispenser. She looked at me funny and said What? I told her again it was a soap dispenser. She again looked at me with a concerned glance and said, but Spencer needs it! (Spencer is one of her friends from church.) I laughed and told her it wasn't Spencer's soap, it was a soap "dispenser" which means it dispenses soap and gives it to you to wash your hands. I asked her if she understood and she said, "nope." So maybe we'll try again another day to unravel the mystery of the "soap de Spencer."

Well-versed

We found a book at Lifeway the other day that is a kids devotional book in which you read a bible story, then have space where you ask a couple of questions and write down the response you get. We thought this would be a great thing to incorporate into our bedtime routine with Kyra and something that we will cherish (and sometimes chuckle at) reading her responses in the future. The other night, we decided to try something else...we chose one of the verses we'd read that week for our "family memory verse." We'd not done this before, but Kyra has really taken to it. We were shocked and thrilled that after only two nights of reciting our memory verse, this evening, before we even asked her, she suddenly stated..."Deuteronomy 31:6...The Lord your God will go with you!" We're excited to see the difference our daily devotions and memory verses will make in her life, and in our own, as we re-learn old stories in a new way right along with her and rediscover the joy of reading God's word.

What's in a name?

Kyra likes to know everyone's name and who they all go with. She knows all her grandparents' full names and is figuring out their relationship both to her and to us. My parents and sister visited a couple weeks ago to see us and meet our new addition to the family. After they left, Kyra found a few things in places that hadn't been there before. For example, in her bathtub, she found a bar of soap. When we put her in the bath, she said, "Hey, whose soap is that?" We told her that Nana and Papa used it while they were here. She later found something else that was there for Nana and Papa that wasn't usually there. She made this statement, "Hey, look at that...did the Qualls leave that too?" It cracked me up that she called them "the Qualls" instead of Nana and Papa. This week, Steven's mom, Kyra's Grammy B, is here to visit. This morning, Kyra was up before anyone else. I got up and went into the living room with her. After a while, she turned to me and said "When is Steven's mom going to get up?" I just started laughing, so she corrected it to "When is Dad's mom going to get up?" What a kid.

The Story of Her Life

Kyra has always been a huge bookworm, so I guess it should come as no surprise that she now narrates everything in story form. She'll be playing with her Veggie Tales playset and instead of acting out the characters and simply providing the voices, she will say, "Hi Duke...says Petunia." Then she'll follow up with something like, "Hi Petunia...says Duke." She also does this with stuff she "narrates" for Steven and I. She'll say, "Kyra would you like a drink....says Mommy. Yes, thank you...says Kyra." It's quite comical.

Return to Sender?

Now that we're settling into our new home and a routine with the baby, we've resumed potty training with Kyra. Well. tonight, as she was sitting on the potty, I was reading to her and Siana was sitting on the counter in her bouncy seat. Siana had been snoozing and suddenly woke with a start and started crying. As I paused the story to attend to the baby, Kyra got a mildly annoyed look on her face and said, "I think we should put Siana down the potty and I will just miss her." I chuckled internally and told her that one, people don't fit down the potty, and two, she would miss out on a whole lot of fun once Siana gets older. By this time, Siana had stopped crying and had gone back to sleep, so Kyra seemed satisfied for the time being. I understand the emergence of some annoyance and jealousy, but I sure am glad that she's at least attached enough to her to miss her! =) I'll just have to remember and be sure to check the potty each time before we flush....

Everyone's a Critic

Steven and i were getting ready to go to a New Year's Day party at our minister's house this evening. I had worn my hair up in a ponytail all day, but had taken it down briefly to redo it after I touched up my makeup. Kyra came into the bathroom, took one look at me and said, Why is your hair out of the ponytail? I replied that I had taken it down but was going to put it back up in a few minutes. She surveyed my mussed hair and stated, You're not looking cute yet. Thanks, kiddo. =)